July 2020 Reading Thread

[Danny McG]

Any good? I found Bird Box bleak, and unfocused (no pun intended considering the subject matter), and I thought the ending left too much in the air. It might just have been it didn't connect with me at the time (most likely explanation, in fact), but I'm half way interested in a sequel.

It's as unfocused as the first book and like the first this one also keeps jumping from 'now' to 'back then' to 'some point in between'.

This is set ten years later so the two kids are now teenagers, a lot of the story is from their viewpoint so it's looking like a YA book.

TBH it's only the mysterious creatures that are keeping me involved with the story, they've evolved it seems, now they don't just wait for you to look at them, they can turn you into a psycho killer by skin contact.
So survivors don't only wear a blindfold, they got long sleeves and hoodies and gloves etc, even on hot and sunny days.

I intend to finish this one but it's becoming harder to keep my attention - I'm maybe 70% through it

 

[Hugh]

“The Blessing Way,” book 1 of the Navajo Mysteries by Tony Hillerman.
I've been sitting on these books ever since receiving them from a friend over a decade ago. I never really thought I'd be interested until a different friend told me they're similar in tone to the Longmire Mysteries. Lo and behold, they're right.

I've read three of them now. Really enjoyed them.

 

[Abernovo]

I intend to finish this one but it's becoming harder to keep my attention - I'm maybe 70% through it

Thanks, Danny. Okay, that's a miss from me, then. The mysterious creatures annoyed me, anyway, as they were never developed other than as a reason to wear a blindfold, because they drove you mad.

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

Currently reading American Spy, by Lauren Wilkinson. It's 1986, the heart of the Cold War. Marie Mitchell is an intelligence officer with the FBI. She's brilliant and talented, but she's also a black woman working in an all-white boys club, and her career has stalled with routine paperwork -- until she's recruited to a shadowy task force aimed at undermining the charismatic, revolutionary president of Burkina Faso.

 

[AE35Unit]

Just finished The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Ridiculous and sublime.

Do you have all the other books in the series?

 

[thaddeus6th]

No, but I imagine that's no problem via e-books. Time-wise, however...

 

[Randy M.]

Started The Lifted Veil by George Eliot. I recall enjoying Adam Bede about 30 years ago. Picked this one up in a bargain bin as I recall, and wanting something short and sweet, it seemed like a good choice, though an anamoly in her list of works because its premise is based on a paranormal/supernatural power. Interesting so far, though probably not for every reader. Eliot's style of writing is very 19th century in that the narrator does go on about his feelings and moral connundrums. Understandable, since that's part of the point of the story, but I've noticed not all contemporary readers get on with it.

Randy M.

 

[Vertigo]

Just finished The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Ridiculous and sublime.

I'm still the proud owner of a full set of recordings of the original radio series - on cassette tapes that is; not sure I've still got anything still working that can play them though!

 

[tobl]

I'm still the proud owner of a full set of recordings of the original radio series - on cassette tapes that is; not sure I've still got anything still working that can play them though!

you can always convert them to mp3

 

[Vertigo]

you can always convert them to mp3

Yes but I need to find a cassette player first and then hope that they're not so gunked up with age that they run slow! I do have one knocking about but the Lord only knows if it still works; I doubt it's been plugged it in for 15 years!

 

[Parson]

@Vertigo .... tape players can still be purchased, and I'd bet that a quick perusal on Ebay or some such could net you a decent one on the cheap. --- I still have a Walkman in near mint condition. My grandkids were befuddled by it. (SIGH!)

 

[Galactic Bus Driver]

Finished my re-read of Byzantium by Stephen Lawhead - still very enjoyable, and remains one of my favourite books.

I need to put some Stephen Lawhead books on my short list. I've only read The Song of Albion series so far, but really enjoyed it.

 

[Danny McG]

Thanks, Danny. Okay, that's a miss from me, then. The mysterious creatures annoyed me, anyway, as they were never developed other than as a reason to wear a blindfold, because they drove you mad.

@Abernovo
Deffo avoid the book...no proper ending, a very poor resolution to the problems caused by the creatures.....a pile of twonk!

 

[Danny McG]

Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis

 

[Bick]

@BickI've had that maybe three years as a ebook, I keep meaning to start reading it but there's always a new hyped up genre book looming in front of me that demands attention.
Your thoughts on it when finished would be helpful

I finished Carver's, Neptune Crossing, Danny. I think it stands up to scrutiny and is well written and engaging. The only thing to note is that the last few pages simply lead in to a sequel. This makes it seem like a sudden end perhaps, but it does stand alone as a decent novel, barring the very final part. I liked it.

I just listened to a very interesting chat and reminisce between GRRM and Robert Silverberg at the current WorldCon, and its got me enthused to read more Silverberg, who I always enjoy... so now I'm picking up The Book of Skulls, which has been on the shelf for a little while looking at me.

 

[Hugh]

I just listened to a very interesting chat and reminisce between GRRM and Robert Silverberg at the current WorldCon, and its got me enthused to read more Silverberg, who I always enjoy... so now I'm picking up The Book of Skulls, which has been on the shelf for a little while looking at me.

Robert Silverberg "Downward to the Earth"
Just finished: I found this totally enthralling. Having posted recently on just how tedious I found Silverberg's Nebula Award winning "A Time of Changes", all credit to him for trying different approaches. Both books involve consciousness expanding drugs and were written within a year or two of each other, but my experience in reading them couldn't be more different. I also suspect that something of "Downward to the Earth" found its way into GRRM's "A Song for Lya".

 

[Bick]

Robert Silverberg "Downward to the Earth"
Just finished: I found this totally enthralling.

Yes it’s a terrific novel.

I also suspect that something of "Downward to the Earth" found its way into GRRM's "A Song for Lya".

It was clear from their WorldCon panel chat that they’ve been friends for several decades, so it’s possible.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

@Hugh.
I wonder, Hugh, if you've read Silverberg's Dying Inside? It's a fantastic novel (written in 1972, I think).
I wrote this brief bit about it a few years ago:
'A first-person account of a telepath losing his ability, and how his world just shatters because of it.'

Here's the Goodreads link:

Dying Inside

David Selig was born with an awesome power -- the abili…

www.goodreads.com

 

[tobl]

@Vertigo .... tape players can still be purchased, and I'd bet that a quick perusal on Ebay or some such could net you a decent one on the cheap. --- I still have a Walkman in near mint condition. My grandkids were befuddled by it. (SIGH!)

i saw a story about a boy that had one, given by his father or grandfather... the boy took an entire week to urderstand that there was a side b to cassetes and there was more music there

 

[Hugh]

@Hugh.
I wonder, Hugh, if you've read Silverberg's Dying Inside?

Many thanks. I've made a note and will definitely be reading it at some point before long. I've read relatively little of Silverberg other than @25 short stories. I came across Nightwings a few years ago and found it astonishing.